Kiss Me Kate (film) - Comparison With Stage Version

Comparison With Stage Version

The film does not differ greatly from the stage version, but there are some significant changes.

The opening scene in Fred's apartment, and the brief appearance of an actor playing Cole Porter, is added; it provides more of the background to Lilli and Fred's troubled relationship.

Nearly all of Porter's rather risqué lyrics had to be "cleaned up" to avoid the wrath of the censors, thus dulling much of the comedy and making the results rather bland. "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", the most suggestive song in the score, was cut in half, and its position changed. In the stage version, the gangsters, Slug and Lippy, inadvertently find themselves on stage, and entertain the audience with their tribute to Shakespeare. In the movie, they sing the song while backstage to cheer up a depressed Fred following the departure of Lilli.

"Too Darn Hot" was also sanitized, and its position changed. It was originally sung by a group of chorus actors relaxing backstage between the two acts of the musical, and had no bearing on the plot. In the movie, it is sung by the show's Bianca, Ann Miller, in the opening scene, where it is claimed that it was originally intended for the stage musical, but was cut.

"So in Love" is sung as a duet by Fred and Lilli in the opening scene, in the stage version they sing it individually at later stages. In the film, Lilli's new fiance is a naive Texas cattle baron, in the stage version he is a domineering east coast government official. The song "From This Moment On" is originally sung by Lily and Tex, happily anticipating their marital bliss. In the film, it is sung by the newly wed Bianca and Lucentio, and her rejected suitors.

Some of these changes may seem surprising to present sensibilities e.g. in "Too Darn Hot" the line "according to the Kinsey Report" becomes "according to the latest report". In the stage version the word "bastard" is used a handful of times, but this is deleted in the film, replaced with e.g. "you louse". However they did retain the scene where Fred spanks Lilli, which some might now consider controversial.